Oliverio could lose labor support

Though West Virginia state Sen. Mike Oliverio toppled incumbent Rep. Alan Mollohan in the May primary, he is struggling to win the backing of a key Democratic constituency: organized labor.

With the state AFL-CIO convening on Sunday to make its general election endorsements, labor officials say the organization is leaning toward remaining neutral in the 1st District race — a blow to Oliverio in his ongoing effort to rally the Democratic Party apparatus around his campaign against former state GOP Chairman David McKinley.

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“At this time, there’s probably a good chance that we’ll be neutral in that race. We had a very dear friend in Alan Mollohan, and it’s hard to replace something like that,” said West Virginia AFL-CIO President Kenneth Purdue. “We have not found the current candidates to be strong supporters of labor.”

Oliverio’s campaign, racing to head off a potential embarrassment, sent an e-mail to labor officials across the district Monday afternoon slamming McKinley on labor issues. The missive called McKinley’s record during his tenure as a state delegate “dangerous” and hailed Oliverio as “a friend of the working men and women of West Virginia’s 1st District with a career record of fighting for middle class families and to create jobs.”

McKinley spokesman David Cohen laughed off the e-mail and pointed to McKinley’s background as the owner of an architectural and engineering company.

“David is clearly the candidate in this race with first-hand experience creating jobs, and that’s why the working men and women of West Virginia — union and non-union alike — are standing with him,” he said.

The potential AFL-CIO snub comes just a little more than a month after the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, in its own rebuke of the conservative-oriented Oliverio, cut a $10,000 check to McKinley.

Curtis Wilkerson, Oliverio’s campaign manager, shrugged off the IBEW contribution, saying “labor doesn’t love” McKinley. “Labor in West Virginia has always been a key part of the Democratic base,” he said. “Our effort has been to explain why David McKinley will be bad for West Virginia.”

Wilkerson said Oliverio has been invited to speak to several labor groups, including the Active and Retired Federal Employees Association and the Building & Construction Trades Council.

Oliverio’s troubles with the labor community date back to the primary, when Mollohan spotlighted his endorsements from the United Steelworkers, West Virginia AFL-CIO and United Mine Workers of America in TV ads that simultaneously cast Oliverio as a supporter of free trade laws.

But since his primary victory, the West Virginia Democrat has worked steadily to unify the party. He backtracked from earlier comments he made that were critical of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and secured campaign donations from party higher-ups, including House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen and House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn.

Still, the path has been rocky.

On Monday, the defeated Mollohan sent out an e-mail to his supporters accusing Oliverio of waging a “dishonest Republican smear campaign” targeting his ethics record.

And in June, Ken Hechler, a state political giant and former West Virginia secretary of state who fended off Oliverio in a 2004 primary, announced that he was launching a political action committee targeting Oliverio.